All Aboard!

In a previous post we discussed how to get around London, Underground, Red Bus, and Black Cab. But what if you want to go elsewhere in England? Well, we did mention driving, but there is another way to get around: Trains.

In the US, where we live, the train system does have passenger trains, particularly on the East Coast in the Boston-New York-Philadelphia-DC corridor where Amtrak runs regular trains at relatively high speeds. However trans-American trains are not that popular as they take multiple days to go across the country and are fairly expensive. Looking at a train from Washington, DC to San Francisco in July of 2024, the price for a private room for one person, one way is almost $1,500. It takes three legs, two on trains with a 5-hour layover to change trains, and a 30-minute bus ride at the end, as the train doesn’t actually go to San Francisco. Overall, the travel time is estimated at 77 hours. Yes, three days and five hours!

But in England, the story is entirely different. England is about the same size as the US state of Georgia, which makes train travel much shorter to get to most places and makes train travel useful. For example, a train from London to Manchester is just over 2 hours, with no changes en route, costing less than $100 (Summer, 2024). In addition, there is a train on that route every hour or so making the idea of train travel more attractive. Some other examples of travel times are London to Cambridge 1 hour, London to York 2 hours, London to Bath 1.5 hours, London to Portsmouth 1.5 hours, London to Penzance in Cornwall is just 5 hours. So, for example, one could have a stay in London, take a train in the morning to Bath, tour the Roman Baths, visit the Circus and the Royal Crescent, ride the Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour, have tea at the Jane Austen Museum and Tea Room and be back in London for a late dinner.  Or visit the City of York, including the York Minster, Betty’s Tea Room for afternoon tea, tour additional sights of the city, and be back to London in the early evening.

International travel by train is also convenient. A few years ago our daughter and granddaughter came with us to London. Our daughter wanted to surprise her daughter with a trip to Paris, so on the chosen day, they left the flat in the morning, caught the train to Paris, took in as much of the city as they could in one day, and returned to London by train, getting back to our flat around midnight.

Map of major railroads in UK. Image via acprail.com.

If you combine train and rental car travel, the opportunities get even more interesting. For example, if you want to visit Cornwall, you could fly into London, take a train from there to Truro (under 5 hours), rent a car there (Enterprise has an outlet there, but there may be others), tour Cornwall for a few days, then return the car to Truro and take the train back to London. Given that Enterprise has a relatively low drop-off fee, one could fly into London or Manchester, take a train to wherever you want to visit, rent a car there, do your touring, and drop it off somewhere else. We recently rented a car in London, drove to the Cotswolds to tour the area with friends, and then dropped the car in Southampton, where we boarded a cruise ship to return to the US through New York City. The possibilities are endless.

For your planning purposes, you can go directly to British Rail at their website BritRail or use other travel planning websites like Trainline, which can plan trips to and from England to locations in continental Europe.  And don’t forget Rail Passes, which allow multiple trips for one fee, which can be a real cost savings if you plan multiple trips.

One caution about traveling by train in the UK is that sometimes the trains are interrupted by adverse events like weather, blocked tracks, etc., or by labor unrest from various labor unions. Without getting political, the recent (2024) change in governments in England may somewhat lessen the likelihood of such labor unrest as the new Labour government has indicated changes in attitude toward the unions. However, it pays to stay alert and be flexible. You can track the status of the trains at just about any of the linked train travel websites in this post. Overall, travel by train is efficient, handy, and convenient, and the trains are generally clean and comfortable. Well worth considering as you make your travel plans.

So, All Aboard!

Featured image is London bound Class 800 inter city high speed train operated by Great Western Railway. The line connects Swansea with London and is electrified between Cardiff and London. Image via railstaff.co.uk